[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7705-7707]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

  Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a very 
important issue to my State of New Hampshire, and that is American 
trade and our ability to create more jobs in New Hampshire and in the 
United States of America by giving our businesses the opportunity to 
sell to consumers around the world since our businesses are creating 
the very best products and technology, and their ability to sell to 
those around the world is going to create more jobs in New Hampshire 
and in this country.
  I also wish to speak about an important financing mechanism to 
businesses in New Hampshire and to businesses in this country, and that 
is the Export-Import Bank.
  When traveling throughout New Hampshire and meeting with businesses 
both small and large, what I hear most often is this: In Washington, 
please make it easier, in terms of the regulatory environment and the 
tax environment, for us to do what we do best, and that is create jobs 
and put people to work. I have also heard we want more opportunities to 
sell what we produce to other countries in the world, and we also want 
opportunities to make sure financing is available to increase 
opportunities for New Hampshire businesses to export to other countries 
around the world.
  An important tool for New Hampshire businesses is the Export-Import 
Bank, which is set to expire next month, at the end of June, and that 
is why getting the bill pending on the floor is important. I fought to 
ensure that there is a way forward to secure a path for a vote on the 
Export-Import Bank reauthorization before it expires at the end of 
June.
  I thank our leader for committing to allow us an opportunity to 
extend this important financing mechanism to businesses in New 
Hampshire to ensure that mechanism is still available and that those 
New Hampshire jobs continue and that we can continue to grow our 
economy.
  In New Hampshire, the Export-Import Bank supports $416 million in 
exports and has helped 36 New Hampshire businesses over the last 7 
years. Its continued existence is not only important to the Granite 
State economy, but it translates to over 2,300 jobs that are supported 
by the opportunity to have financing available through the Export-
Import Bank to New Hampshire.
  I met with New Hampshire exporters from around the State who have 
been able to grow their businesses and create more jobs by utilizing 
the Ex-Im financing to export goods and services overseas. In fact, in 
December I hosted a roundtable in New Hampshire at the Seaport 
International Forest Products in Noshua. In the past, they have been 
able to use Export-Import financing. They were gracious enough to hold 
a roundtable when Fred Hopper, the head of the Export-Import Bank, came 
to New Hampshire and met with businesses in New Hampshire to allow them 
to give him feedback as to how the Bank was working and how important 
it was to their ability to obtain this financing and expand their 
exports overseas. In fact, one of the participants in that roundtable, 
Jerry Boyle, who is the leader of Boyle Energy and Technology Services 
in Concord, explained how he grew his business 75 percent in the past 
few years because of the opportunity to use Ex-Im financing.
  Make no mistake--failure to renew the Bank's charter would cause us 
to lose jobs in New Hampshire and lose jobs in this country and would 
hurt the economy at a time when we should be focusing on making it 
easier for businesses to create jobs and making sure our businesses 
have opportunity and access to markets overseas to create more American 
trade.

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  I will continue to push this body to reauthorize Ex-Im so that New 
Hampshire businesses can continue to have access to this financing, can 
continue to grow their opportunities to create more jobs in New 
Hampshire by using this financing and to sell their goods and services 
overseas to create jobs.
  I want to address the critics of this Bank. I look at this and I 
wonder--we are competing in a global economy, and so many of our 
competitors are actually offering even greater financing mechanisms for 
their businesses. So without this opportunity for our businesses, we 
would be putting ourselves at a competitive disadvantage. In fact, the 
Ex-Im Bank actually has a lower default rate than commercial loans and 
returns money to the Treasury.
  If someone asked me about the Ex-Im Bank, I would tell them that it 
creates American jobs and returns money to the Treasury to help pay 
down our debt. If every Federal agency were asked that question, that 
would be an easy question to answer, wouldn't it? We would probably be 
a lot farther along in dealing with our $18 trillion in debt.
  To me, this is a program that allows us to create more New Hampshire 
jobs and more American jobs. We have to get this done. I am glad we 
have a commitment to have a vote on it in this body to allow us to 
reauthorize it before it expires. Again, it returns money to the 
Treasury and creates American jobs. Imagine if we could say that about 
every Federal program.
  I wish to talk about another issue that is very important to jobs in 
New Hampshire, and that is trade promotion authority, which we are 
currently debating and which is pending on the Senate floor. This will 
have a real impact on New Hampshire's economy and create thousands of 
jobs in my State.
  In 2014, New Hampshire exported $4.4 billion worth of goods and 
services and exports and supported about 23,000 good-paying New 
Hampshire jobs. Over the past decade, we have seen Granite State 
exports increase by 175 percent. As a testament to America's 
entrepreneurial spirit, almost 90 percent of New Hampshire's exporters 
are small or medium-sized businesses.
  Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Mercury Systems, which 
designs and builds defense and commercial electronics in Hudson, NH. 
Since opening in Hudson in 2014, Mercury Systems has more than doubled 
its workforce from 70 employees to now 170 employees--thanks in part to 
their opportunity to export what they manufacture.
  In April, I visited Corfin Industries in Salem. Corfin provides 
robotic processing services that are used by the defense, medical, and 
telecommunication industries. Corfin relies on exports and access to 
international markets, which has helped to create 22 new jobs in New 
Hampshire, and now they see a growing portion of their sales going to 
exports--American trade creating jobs.
  There are many other important companies in New Hampshire that 
support trade promotion authority, and they view this as an opportunity 
to create more Granite-State jobs, including companies such as BAE 
Systems
in Nashua; Bosch Thermotechnology
in Londonderry; Elbit Systems in Merrimack; Globe Manufacturing Company 
in Pittsfield; General Electric in Hooksett; Goss International 
Americas in Durham; Intel Corporation, which also has a facility in 
Merrimack; Medtronic in Portsmouth; and New Hampshire Ball Bearings in 
Lanconia. In fact, I had a chance to visit New Hampshire Ball Bearings 
and to talk to them about the importance of not only Ex-Im financing--
as a supplier, this is important to them--but also the importance, 
obviously, of trade. Also, Osram Sylvania in Manchester, Hillsboro, and 
Exeter; Polartec in Hudson; Texas Instruments has a facility in 
Manchester; and Velcro USA is in Manchester. These are just a few 
examples of the many Granite State companies that depend on American 
trade and an opportunity to sell the great products they produce 
overseas.
  Here is what I have heard from my constituents in New Hampshire about 
the pending bill on the floor when it comes to creating good-paying 
jobs in New Hampshire.
  Tony Giunta, a city counselor for Franklin's Ward 1, wrote to me and 
said:

       Our community is working diligently to boost its economic 
     development. Our priority is jobs and attracting new 
     businesses to our city. It is in that regard I am writing to 
     ask for support on the pending trade vote in the U.S. Senate 
     . . . Our President needs the flexibility to handle the 
     details and present a full plan to Congress for final 
     approval.
       That precise system has worked for many years and I believe 
     it should be extended for another 5 years. . . . The Wall 
     Street Journal recently reported that our trade deficit rose 
     to its highest level in nearly six and a half years and the 
     trend line is headed in the wrong direction. We need to do 
     all we can to boost free trade in this country.
       Our state's economy depends on it. My city's future depends 
     on it as well. . . . Considering nearly one-quarter of our 
     workforce provides goods and services that are exported 
     abroad means this proposal will have a tremendous impact on 
     our state's economy.

  Emily Heisig is senior vice president of the New England Council. 
This council is a very important council for employers in New England 
and in New Hampshire.
  She wrote:

       While interstate commerce among the states remains a 
     significant avenue for business prosperity, The New England 
     Council believes that foreign markets must be cultivated to 
     tap into the buying power of this vast and ever-burgeoning 
     consumer base. Indeed, across New England, more than 24,000 
     companies export to foreign markets, and in 2014, that 
     supported nearly 265,000 export-related jobs for our region. 
     The value of goods exported from New England last year was 
     $56.5 billion.

  Jim Roche is president of the New Hampshire Business and Industry 
Association. The New Hampshire Business and Industry Association is a 
very important group in New Hampshire and brings New Hampshire 
businesses together. He wrote to me and said:

       Nearly 40 million American jobs depend on trade. This is 
     especially true for New Hampshire where trade plays a big 
     role in our economy. Trade supports more than 179,000 jobs in 
     the state and our exports of goods and services last year 
     reached nearly $7 billion. Trade is especially important for 
     New Hampshire's small businesses, more than 2,200 of which 
     are exporters.

  Pete McNamara, president of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers 
Association, recently visited me in Washington. He also wrote to me and 
said:

       The New Hampshire Auto Dealers Association supports free 
     trade. In this competitive world market, the U.S. needs the 
     TPA. America drives the world economy, but outside our 
     borders are markets that represent 80% of the world's 
     purchasing power, 92% of its economic growth, and 95% of its 
     consumers.

  Texas Instruments has a very good facility in Manchester. I had a 
chance to visit that facility and meet the workers in these great-
paying jobs and also jobs that are very important, with expertise on 
technology.
  Mark Gary is the vice president and manager of the Manchester site. 
He said:

       Texas Instruments strongly supports TPA-2015 and urges its 
     swift approval. Renewing TPA provides an opportunity for 
     American companies and their workers to secure 21st century 
     rules to govern international trade. Innovation is the 
     Granite State's greatest asset. New Hampshire's high-tech 
     companies, startups, and universities are generating 
     breakthrough innovations and technologies. High tech 
     companies now represent 8.6% of the state's economy and pay 
     92% more than average wages. TI Manchester is the heart of 
     the largest power management unit . . . TPA is critical for 
     TI to secure market access, maintain a competitive global 
     supply chain, and support our high value-added design jobs 
     here in New Hampshire.

  I also heard from Sylvia Linares, director of engineering and New 
Hampshire site leader at Intel in Merrimack, NH, which is also very 
important for New Hampshire jobs.

       Passing TPA will arm U.S. trade negotiators with a clear 
     set of principles and objectives that support our nation's 
     economic, social, and technological interests. These rules 
     have never been more important. In Merrimack, NH we have a 
     very specialized design team that stands to benefit from 
     these rules--rules around intellectual property theft, forced 
     technology transfer and compromised encryption standards. At 
     Intel, we conduct roughly three quarters of Intel's advanced 
     manufacturing and R&D right in the U.S., investments which 
     are supported by three quarters of our revenue from sales

[[Page 7707]]

     elsewhere in the world. We are proud to be part of the New 
     Hampshire tech community by spending more than $5 million 
     annually with approximately 50 suppliers in the state.

  With 95 percent of the world's customers and 80 percent of the 
world's purchasing power outside of the United States, we have to do 
everything we can to ensure that we have more American trade. American 
trade that supports jobs here allows us to sell the great work we and 
our workers do here and the products we produce overseas. That is why 
the bill pending on the floor is so important to creating more American 
jobs.
  Since the 1930s, nearly every President has used trade promotion 
authority to negotiate foreign trade policy. This bill contains the 
clearest outline of trade priorities in our Nation's history. It 
includes almost 150 ambitious, high-standard negotiating objectives 
that will direct our trade negotiators to break down barriers that hurt 
American businesses and will allow American businesses to have more 
American trade to create jobs here.
  The bottom line is that trade promotion authority will ensure that in 
the Granite State, New Hampshire businesses can create more jobs. In 
fact, the estimate in New Hampshire is that if you look at some of the 
agreements, such as the current transatlantic and transpacific trade 
negotiations, those could spur international investment in New 
Hampshire and create an estimated over 8,200 jobs in New Hampshire if 
the President is able to go forward and negotiate the right agreements 
that allow us to create American jobs.
  So there are two issues that I have talked about. We need to get the 
Ex-Im Bank reauthorized before it expires so that employers in New 
Hampshire that have been able to use this financing mechanism and the 
many suppliers that also support companies outside of New Hampshire but 
that create New Hampshire jobs can have an opportunity to continue to 
use this financing to put more people to work in New Hampshire. We also 
need to pass trade promotion authority that is pending on the floor. If 
you look at the list of New Hampshire businesses that will benefit from 
this opportunity to create more New Hampshire jobs and more American 
jobs in the United States of America, this is something we need to do 
to strengthen our economy in the Granite State and to strengthen our 
country to make sure there are more opportunities for people to work in 
this country.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.

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